Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter # 85

"It's funny, but many people don't understand why I draw so many
games nowadays. They think my style must have changed but this is not
the case at all. The answer to this drawing disease is that my favorite
squares are e6, f7, g7 and h7 and everyone now knows this. They protect
these squares not once but four times!"-
Mikhail Tal

1) Onischuk wins 3rd Karpov International

2002 is turning out to be a very good year for American players. GMs Alex
Shabalov and Gregory Kaidanov tied for first in the Aeroflot Open in
January and now Alexander Onischuk has won a major tournament. The 3rd
Karpov International, a Category XVI (2628) event, was held in Poikovsky,
Russia 16th-24th April 2002. Onischuk's performance in this event was
around 2750 FIDE.

2) Margulis tops Lovegrove

NM Igor Margulis won the Walter Lovegrove Senior Open held April 27-28 at
the MI with a score of 3.5 from 4. NM David Blohm was second at 3 followed
by IM Walter Shipman, Larry Snyder, Ray Banning and Jim Simpson at 2.5.
Simpson, rated only 1436, had a particularly good event as he played up
the entire tournament.

3) Baja wins in Hercules

The 23 player event was won by Victor Baja, a master from San Pablo, CA,
with a score of 4-0, defeating the young prodigy Alexander Setzepfandt in
the last round. Second Place went to Kris Mac Lennan, from Oakland, CA
with 3 1/2 points. Third place went to both Steven Gaffagan (Expert prize
also!) and Maximo Fajardo with 3 points. Teodoro Porlares and Maximo
Fajardo took first "A", Michael Haun took first "B",
Aaron Wilkowski took first "C", and Eric Tsai took the below
/Unr. prize.

Rico is planning another event at the same location in early August.

4) Wong leads Spring Tuesday Night Marathon

NM Russell Wong leads the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon with a score of
5.5 from 6 with two rounds to go. NMs Igor Margulis and David Blohm and
Expert Victor Ossipov are tied for second at 5.

5) Field for Konig Memorial

The field for the Imre Konig Memorial, scheduled to start the second week
of September, is tentatively set: GMs Yury Shulman (Belarus), Alexander
Baburin (Ireland), Alex Wojtkiewicz (Poland), Suat Atalik (Turkey), Alex
Yermolinsky (USA), Nick deFirmian (USA), John Fedorowicz (USA), IMs Hikaru
Nakamura (USA), Varuzhan Akobian (USA) and Vinay Bhat (USA). Using ratings
from the April list, this field makes for a Category 12 (2525 + FIDE)
event, the same level as the 1991 and 1995 Pan Pacific Internationals.

National Masters Tibor Weinberger and Mark Pinto have generously donated
$8,000 for this event, but we are still short of our goal of $14,000. If
you would like to help sponsor this tournament please contact MI Chess
Director John Donaldson at (415) 421-2258 or imwjd@aol.com. All donations
are tax deductible.

One of the tournament participants, GM Alex Baburin, is helping the fund
raising raising effort by offering a special deal for new subcriber's to
his high quality online daily chess magazine Chess Today. He will donate
40 percent of the subscription price to the Konig Memorial! Cost of a four
month subscription is $17. Go to www.chesstoday.net to sign up and tell
Alex the MI sent you.

6) MI Chess Camp

The Mechanics' will be hosting it's third annual chess camp from August
12-16 with GM Alex Yermolinsky, IMs John Donaldson and Guillermo Rey and
MI Scholastic Director Anthony Corrales as instructors. Full details are
listed below under Upcoming Events.

7) Manhattan Chess 1879-2002?

The nation's second oldest continuously operating chess club, the
Manhattan, is in extreme danger of disappearing off the map. Last month
the Club, which was located at The New Yorker Hotel, shut its doors.
President Jeff Kossak has put the equipment in storage and is searching
for a new location. As one might imagine the cost of Manhattan real estate
is a big problem. The Club does not have the group of wealthy backers it
once had and it will be difficult to find an acceptable location at a
doable rent.

The Mechanics (founded 1854) and the Marshall in NYC (founded in 1919)
have both been blessed with many generous individuals over the years who
helped them to own their own buildings. The Manhattan, not enjoying this
critical advantage, must have moved at least 20 times in its nomadic
history. We wish the Manhattan well in its search for new quarters and
remind MI Club members that it is their generosity that helps to run the
programs and tournaments that we hold.

8) Koltanowski Memorial - May 25-27 in San Francisco

Tom Dorsch and CALCHESS are bringing a special event to San Francisco
this coming Memorial Day weekend. May 25-27 the Koltanowski Memorial will
be held at the Golden Gateway Holiday Inn at Van Ness at Pine. The
six-round event features $6,375.00 in prizes and $1 from each paid
entry will be donated to the Kolty Chess For Youth Foundation.

Premium rental charges by San Francisco hotels and mediocre attendance
for the past few events (Firecracker and Uinverse Opens) have discouraged
people from putting on big tournaments in the City. Let's change that
trend! Support this event and its very reasonable entry fee of $65 and
there will be more like it. Just think, you won't always have to get on a
plane and fly across the country when you want to play in a big Swiss
System event.

See full details below under Upcoming Events.

9) Missing Years of the American Chess Bulletin at the MI

Donations by Andy Ansel and some recent acquisitions have left the MI with
almost a complete run of the American Chess Bulletin which went from
1904-1963. We are now missing only 1944, 1947 and 1956. Can you help?

This is not a camp for players that want to jump two rating classes in
five days. You won't learn how to win against the Sicilian every time
using the Grand Prix Attack. So why our camp and not others? At the MI
camp you will get a look inside a GM's laboratory and get a feel for how
they work on their game from the ground up. You will learn not only the
importance of analyzing your own games, but also how to do it properly.
You will learn to identify the critical points of the game and to
understand when and why things went wrong.
You will learn how to use ChessBase and Fritz efficiently as part of a
daily training program as well as utilizing resources on the Internet
such as TWIC and the Internet Chess Club. Today chess books are cranked
out at an incredible rate. Some of them are very good, many are quite bad.
We will help students learn to select that which is truly useful.
On the fun side our instructors have unique experience in international
competition. Expect to hear stories and anecdotes about what it's like to
play against Kasparov and defend first board in a Chess Olympiad.
Instructors: Grandmasters Alex Yermolinsky, International Masters John
Donaldson and Guillermo Rey, and MI Scholastic Director Anthony Corrales.

Who: Open to all ages from 8 and up.
When : August 12-16, from 9am to 5pm
Where: 57 Post Street, 4th floor (Montgomery BART station)
Cost: $320 for Mechanics' members, $355 for junior (under 21) non-members,
$405 for adult non-members. All non-members will receive a one year
membership in the MI. There is a limit of 40 players for this camp.
If you can't attend the whole camp there is a drop in fee of $80 a day

Regional Events:

CalChess San Mateo Swiss
May and 5
Four USCF-rated games for $20! No cash prizes, an inexpensive weekend
Swiss! Support your state organization! Any profit from this event will
benefit CalChess!
CalChess San Mateo Swiss
When: May 4 and 5, 2002
Where: American Legion Hall, 130 South Blvd., San Mateo (from Highway 92
in San Mateo, exit El Camino Real north, first right on 17th Ave., first
left on Palm, first right on South Blvd.).
Format: Four-round Swiss in eight sections: Master, Expert, A, B, C, D, E,
Under 1000
(Ratings from April 2002 supplement will be used; strict class divisions
no one plays up).
Round Times: 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. both days (half-point byes available
all rounds, bye for round 4 must be requested before May 4). Late
registration 10 a.m. Saturday.
Time Control: Sudden death in 2 hours.
Prizes: Three trophies or plaques in each section.
Entry Fee: $20 to CalChess members (membership expiration dates before May
1, 2002),
$40 to non-members, if received by May 1. $10 more at site. USCF
membership required.
A one-year membership in CalChess gives you discounted entry fees into
participating tournaments, and six issues of the award-winning California
Chess Journal A regular one-year membership costs
$15.
Registration and Information: Tournament director Frisco Del Rosario,
126 15th Ave., San Mateo CA 94402-2414 (650) 868-5187 no calls before
4 p.m., e-mail preferred to frisco@appleisp.net
Graphic: Beneath the San Mateo/Hayward Bridge
Name ____________________________________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________________________________
City _______________________________________ State ___________ Zip ___________
E-mail address ______________________________ Phone_________________________
USCF ID# __________________________________ Exp. date _______ Rating _________
Checks payable to Frisco Del Rosario ($20 entry fee for CalChess members, $40 for non-members
who may join CalChess for $15 for one year, $28 for two years, $41 for three years,
scholastic memberships $13 for one year), mail to 126 Fifteenth Ave., San Mateo CA 94402.

TOTAL _______________________(Check payable to "CalChess Tournaments")

GEORGE KOLTANOWSKI 1903-2000

Born in Antwerp, Belgium, on September 17, 1903, to a family of diamond
cutters, George Koltanowski--universally known as "Kolty"--was
introduced to chess by his father. His first introduction to organized
chess was by a Catholic nun, who brought him to the Antwerp Chess Club
when he was ten years old. Within a short time he had become the best
player in Antwerp, and he went on to win six Belgian national
championships.
An exhibition of blindfold chess by the Hungarian master Gyula Breyer
intrigued the young man. In an offhand boast, he told his friends at the
Club that it was no great feat to play multiple games blindfold.
Challenged to make good on his boast, he lost his way and lost all his
games. Stung by teasing, Kolty focused on blindfold play until he was
strong enough to defeat the best players. He became a professional and
moved to Spain.
World Champion Alekhine held the blindfold record of most games played
simultaneously, 24. Kolty played 26. Alekhine came back and played 28.
Kolty played 30. Alekhine extended the rivalry once again by playing 32
games. Not to be outdone, in 1937, on the occasion of his 34th birthday,
Kolty performed the stupendous feat of playing 34 games simultaneously
blindfold in Edinburgh, Scotland. This was an achievement so spectacular
that it has never been equaled--a world record that still stands, 65 years
later!
Kolty was also one of the strongest over-the-board players of the '30s.
Among his accomplishments was a tie for first at Madrid, 1935, where he
defeated Salo Flohr, a world championship contender, in their individual
game. After the war, he was retroactively awarded the title of
International Grandmaster by the international chess federation (of which
he was the longest-surviving founding member, having played at the Paris,
1924, tournament where the organization was formed). In 1939, when war
broke out in Europe, Kolty was touring Central America on his way to the
chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires. Unable to return to Belgium, Kolty spent
the war teaching chess in Guatemala, then settled in the United States.
In 1948, he married the love of his life, Leah, and moved to Northern
California. For more than fifty years, Kolty dedicated his life to
improving chess in this country, building a record of accomplishment
never equaled. He was America's leading tournament director, devising the
Swiss system and personally officiating at premiere American events
(sixteen US Opens) and international events (San Antonio 1972). Kolty
served for nine years on the Policy Board of the US Chess Federation,
three years as president. He wrote the only daily chess column in the
world; it appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and was syndicated to
other papers for over fifty years. His roadshow, featuring his
patented "Knight's Tour," introduced chess to thousands of
players throughout the United States. He wrote more than a dozen books
and countless articles. He had the first televised chess instructional
program on PBS in the '50s. He founded numerous chess clubs.
Kolty's inexhaustible energy and his enthusiasm for the game earned him
every honor that the chess world could bestow. His fascinating personality
and sense of humor made him a friend to generations of players all over
the world. The US Chess Federation awarded the titles, "Dean of
American Chess" and "America's Chess Treasure." in
recognition that his work has enriched countless lives.
This tournament is dedicated to Kolty.